(July 16, 2013 at 1:35 am)whateverist Wrote: I wouldn't be surprised to see a t shirt that says "Stupid and Proud" become popular here. Normal 'mericans don't much care for elites. We like us dumb.

That's why so many Republitards were claiming that Sarah Palin was a good choice in 2008.

Man, I wish I could go back into school or something. I definitely took education for granted, especially in high school - shoulda taken calculus and physics, goddamn it.

I wish I'd taken four years of Spanish back then. Too bad we can't travel back in time and tell our former selves what to do.

Ah ha! I took four years of Spanish Conozco a espanol

But yes, the clearly impeccable foresight of our younger selves shall forever be a curse.

the problem is more cultural than most people realize.

i was raised in asia. i've actually studied in 3 different countries in asia. And the key is that for us, doing well in school is what you'd call a requirement. it's not an option. there isn't another option in life, if you don't do well in school. all those options are considered undesirable. it's not just because doing well in school gets you a good job, it's also the prestige, and most of all the "honour of your family" (or, more accurately, their "faces"). so most kids in asia are brought up rather traditionally in this way, i was one of those kids, and we tend to take school deadly serious. To this day, if i get a bad score, even if it doesn't affect my overall GPA, i feel like a worthless human being.

in canada, i've been to school for a while here, and i've tutor a lot of kids for about 3 years now. the things they get away with, it's incredible. when i first started tutoring, i couldn't believe that high school kids haven't memorized their multiplication table yet. Then guess how i felt when i was told it was optional. I memorized mine when i was 8, just like everyone in my class did. i never used a calculator until i graduated high school. students here use it all the time. around here school isn't such a big deal, you do well or you don't, life is so much more than just school. being lazy in school isn't a bad thing, it's just being a teenager, and well, we all have "lives" right? i won't deny that high school kids here have much happier and relaxing time than i did, but i've also seen a lot of these kids in university, and they can't handle it. math courses in uni don't allow calculators, and kids plainly cannot finish their exam on time because they can't count fast enough. loads of them drop out of their math courses this way. Which is a prerequisite for any math and science major.

there's a balance to be struck between the two extremes. but i'm glad i was brought up "the hard way", because uni very manageable to me, and not even half as tough as my high school was.

@Psykhronic, high school physics is very understandable by just reading the text book and doing the practices. calc is a little trickier depending on your foundation in math, but yea, both are a lot more fun when you're not being tested on, XD.

(July 17, 2013 at 11:08 pm)pineapplebunnybounce Wrote: @Psykhronic, high school physics is very understandable by just reading the text book and doing the practices. calc is a little trickier depending on your foundation in math, but yea, both are a lot more fun when you're not being tested on, XD.

I looked over a physics textbook about two years ago and couldn't believe how much it made sense, I even took a geophysics course in college and it was awesome :3
I don't like doing the oldschool calculus techniques, like the old way of deriving using limits and shit, I get lost and make mistakes. But I can do derivatives and partial derivatives pretty well. In highschool I had taken pre-calc even though it was not required - shoulda just kept going but NOOooO. Oh well. I have such an appreciation for those subjects now at least, and plenty of books with math and physics in them X3

(July 18, 2013 at 11:00 am)Psykhronic Wrote:

(July 17, 2013 at 11:08 pm)pineapplebunnybounce Wrote: @Psykhronic, high school physics is very understandable by just reading the text book and doing the practices. calc is a little trickier depending on your foundation in math, but yea, both are a lot more fun when you're not being tested on, XD.

I looked over a physics textbook about two years ago and couldn't believe how much it made sense, I even took a geophysics course in college and it was awesome :3
I don't like doing the oldschool calculus techniques, like the old way of deriving using limits and shit, I get lost and make mistakes. But I can do derivatives and partial derivatives pretty well. In highschool I had taken pre-calc even though it was not required - shoulda just kept going but NOOooO. Oh well. I have such an appreciation for those subjects now at least, and plenty of books with math and physics in them X3

lol yea that's the thing about physics, gets such a bad rep but actually pretty easy to understand.

I needed not to learn Spanish, they live next door. I understand them perfectly, but they have this snobbish attitude towards us that they go "yo no te entiendo", with upside down question marks. Fuckers! The worst of all is that we are stuck between them and the atlantic!

Ohhh Espana, I'm sure they'd say similar to those who speak central/south American spanish. Correct me if I'm wrong

(July 17, 2013 at 11:08 pm)pineapplebunnybounce Wrote: calc is a little trickier depending on your foundation in math, but yea, both are a lot more fun when you're not being tested on, XD.

I think calculus has a bit of a bad reputation. It wasn't quite as difficult as everyone made it out to be.

The thing is, however, if you want to get more than a superficial understanding of physics, you need to know calculus. The two go hand in hand.